


Oh No!

by Libennly



Series: The Thundermen™ Strike Again! [5]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor, I Tried, I will edit this later!, i'm very tired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22811143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Libennly/pseuds/Libennly
Summary: "What is it?""Right, straight to the point," Hieronymous leveled him with a sharp stare and for a moment Bud considered revising his earlier statement about how the headmaster wasn't threatening. "Have you ever heard of paying for your education?"**Bud is told something that, in hindsight, is very important.
Relationships: Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt/Rainier, Master Firbolg & Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt
Series: The Thundermen™ Strike Again! [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627453
Comments: 6
Kudos: 81





	Oh No!

"Do you care to guess why I sent for you today?" 

Hieronymous was the perfect example of someone overestimating how threatening they really were. To give him credit, he did pull off the long white beard and glassy blue eyes, despite how many other wizards people could name with those two particular features. But, despite being an elf, he was unfortunately short, which somewhat took away from his threatening expression and position. Not that Bud was doing much better, the small stool he sat on being hilariously dwarfed by his large frame. 

"Villainy," Bud offered, running through all the instance in his mind in which someone had been called for by the headmaster. There, of course, was only one he could think of, and as unlikely as his answer was, it was the only thing he had to go off on. Hieronymous shook his head and leaned back, his fingers fiddling with the twisted wrapper of a hard sweet. 

"No, not that. Something far more serious than that." 

Bud grunted and scratched his nose. Not villainy and something very serious…. 

"Bad grades?" he asked again, remembering the tortured expressions on his friends' faces at the thought of failing grades, at grades that Bud had learnt to become accustomed to. 

Hieronymous shook his head, before stopping and shrugging. "Not today, though preferably in the future. No, there's something else I need something to talk with you about." 

"What is it?" 

"Right, straight to the point," Hieronymous leveled him with a sharp stare and for a moment Bud considered revising his earlier statement about how the headmaster wasn't threatening. "Have you ever heard of paying for your education?"

Bud knew those words were supposed to surprise him, or grace him some clarity, or even gain some variation of a sound of confirmation, but they only sowed the seeds of confusion. "Is that a word puzzle? Metal-pour, is it?" 

"No, no. It's just what it is. And it's metaphor, by the way." 

Right, okay. His brain raced to piece apart the sentence. Pay, pay, pay. "Acorns?" He muttered, thinking aloud as he recalled accounting class. "I give you acorns, you give me tree, no?" 

"I-In a round about way, yes? If you'd replace 'acorns' with money and 'tree' with tuition, then yes." 

Bud hummed again, letting the words register in his mind. "This is important, yes?" 

"Very important," answered Hieronymous, reaching for another sip of his tea. "In fact, paying for tuition is one of the things that keeps a school running. Which makes it crucial for the wheel of education to keep turning." 

"Why are you telling this?" 

Hieronymous sighed, his whole body lensing into the movement. It was quite interesting to watch, especially for someone who wasn't used to such emotive ways. "I am telling you this, Master Firbolg, because you haven't been paying your fees." 

"Oh." 

**

"Wait, you're getting kicked out?" repeated Fitzroy, his voice strained and high. Bud grimaced from his place on the ground, fiddling with a loose strand of hair. The half-elf strode back and forth across the room, his polished shoes painfully squeaking against the oak floor. It was strange, Bud thought, to see this much emotion over someone else's plight from his normally self-centered friend. 

"I think that. He does not think so." 

Fitzroy froze and then spun around, his cloak fanning out dramatically around his ankles. "You think?" He ground out, a frustrated expression contorting his features. "You think? So are you or are you not getting kicked out?" 

"He talks about tests. I get…good grades and I stay. With no pay. " Bud droned slowly, the words striking a faint spark of apprehension in his chest. Even the word 'tests' felt icky in his mouth, bringing visions of muddled letters and incomprehensibly large numbers. He shook his head slightly, grounding himself with the soft weight of his hair falling against his back. 

Fitzroy seemed to wilt and the verging on volatile-magic-mode seemed to seep away from his frame. "Oh, you could've said that," Fitzroy muttered. "So, you mean a scholarship?" 

Bud paused and ran his mind back through the meeting he just had, trying his best to remember what Hieronymous had said. "Maybe." he replied, stretching out the syllables as he continued thinking. 

"Maybe, okay," Fitzroy took a deep breath. "Y'know, lucky for you, I've gone through the whole scholarship ordeal, so I'll can help with some stuff. If I'm not busy with other things." 

"Like Rainier?" 

"What? Busy with…Rainier.." he trailed off, trying to connect the words together. In a second, he straightened up, his lips pursed and his face a violent scarlet. "No! Not her! With magic and Snipper and work! School stuff!" 

Bud nodded, finding it hard to believe him. Fitzroy coughed into his hand. 

"Right, anyway, Gary!" he called out, his voice taking on a sort of sharp, no-nonsense tone. Behind him, the stone gargoyle came to life. "Gary, send us the scholarship papers." 

"Kid," replied Gary, sounding slightly exasperated. "I don't think I need to tell you how much I can't do that." 

**

The letter sat heavy in the Firbolg's hand, the slight weight feeling like a boulder as he clasped the paper. His shoulders were hunched up around his ears as an unfamiliar tension wrapped his muscles. Hieronymous stood in front of him, looking expectantly at the letter, and yet Bud couldn't seem to move. 

His teacher, Bartholomeous, was to his side, not helping at all to make the situation less stressful. In fact, his presence only served to cast visions of question upon questions in his mind, all describing situations that theoretically had something to do with accounting, but, to him, did not. Bartholomeous coughed slightly, the small sound ringing out in the deathly silent room. 

After what seemed like a decade, Bud pushed down his simmering nerves and began to pull apart the envelope. Hieronymous started to put a hand out when Bud accidentally ripped a corner off the letter through his rough handling, but seemed to think better of it and returned to his hands-clasped position. At long last, the letter was freed and Bud's eyes began to scan the page, trying to find some key word that would help him through all of the other unnecessarily complicated words. 

It didn't take long, as the letter was only a few lines long. From what he could grasp, it was a poorly covered-up rejection form, which, after reading, caused Bud to send a blank-eyed stare towards Hieronymous, who looked rightfully sheepish. 

"Now, don't go giving me that look! I know, it's disappoint-" 

"Why?" 

Hieronymous raised an eyebrow, ignoring the fact that a student just interrupted him. ".... Why what?" 

"Why do you… give this letter to me, when I am here? Why do you not tell me using mouth? Unnecessary cost." he added, faintly remembering that term from one Accounting class and deciding that it sounded relevant enough. In the corner, Bartholomeus straightened up, as if his mind automatically filters accounting directly into his brain. 

"It's unnecessary, I know," admitted Hieronymous, scratching his beard "But it seemed like a good idea at the time and, well, nevermind. Here, the thing is that you failed the scholarship." 

"I know that," Bud replied, the feeling of sadness finally registering in him. He didn't enjoy this school at first, the classes and people needlessly complicated, but he had grown to love complicated as he loves simple. And he loves simple a whole damn lot. 

"But, the good news is that we're not kicking you out!" Hieronymous continued, a grin spreading across his face, identical to the once on Bartholomeus. Both were met with a frustrated glance. 

"But you said!" ground out the Firbolg, the paper crumpling in his clenched fist. "You said I would be kicked out. Why do you lie? You people always lie!" 

"Now, now, no need to say that," the elf answered, his voice becoming much more cold and calmer than before. "Not all of us lie. Well, not all of us lie always. But that's beside the point! In fact, the reason why you're is due to one of us! In fact, he's standing in this room!" 

"Me?" 

"No, someone else." 

"......You?"

"Our esteemed teacher, Bartholomeus, has offered to pay out your tuition for your remaining years here!" Bartholomeus smiled at Bud as Hieronymous gestured to the professor. 

The realisation struck Bud like a harsh slap, his eyes widening as the thought surged through his mind and set his mind aflame. Oh no, oh no, no. 

"Of course, this is all under one circumstance," began Bartholomeus, his hands flapping slightly as he began to speak about his favourite subject. Oh no, flashed Bud's mind again. "That you continue taking my Accounting classes with me for the foreseeable future, and keep up your steadily improving results. Deal?" He held out a taloned hand for him to shake. 

As much as Bud detested Accounting, he detested the thought of being alone much more. So, even through his conflict, he hardly even thought as he took the surprisingly firm hand and shook on it. 

"Shit," grumbled Bud as he exited the office, startling Fitzroy and Argo as he did so, both of whom had waited loyally outside for him during the meeting. Despite all the conflicting thoughts raging a war inside his mind, he couldn't help but smile as they both collapsed to the ground. Idiots, he thought, but my idiots.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! So much shit has happened since my last story!
> 
> So I'm, like, super famous on tumblr now, two of my posts have gone over 100 notes and that's y'know, a pretty big number. Lots of people have said super great things in the tags, which is like 💖💖💖💖
> 
> Also I hit 6 followers! I went from 1 to 6 in two days which is mega wow. 
> 
> The next episode is coming out soon! Get ready for some more fics soon!! Also, shoot me an ask @libennly, I love talking with people!
> 
> I love you all, thank you for reading!! (Sorry if this fic doesn't make sense, it's half past 3 am and I'm tired, I'll edit this later today.)


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